We Brought Something: A Re-Awakening of Human Consciousness to Divine Gifts

By LANCE SPEARMAN

In all honesty, I am obliged to accept that it may be a misnomer for me to claim authorship of this book. Rather, may be I should just settle for the title of a Compiler.
This is because I was only challenged to share the contents and lessons of most of the resource materials which had actually had far-reaching effects on me and subsequently imparted me with renewed understanding, vigour and approach to life.
Such contents actually got me thinking whether it was possible to achieve Gods purpose in life without some commensurate innate gifts to serve as the underlining background for success, and to overcome the challenges of his commission on earth.
Besides, God was said to have created man in His own image, and this same God to whom all the wealth and riches of the world belong is both Omni-potent, and Omniscient. As a liberal, and kind, God of love, could He also have allowed a man in His own image to come to face the rigour of the world empty-handed and totally unprepared.
To solve this riddle and expose the readers to a better understanding of the controversy, this book has attempted to serialize the trends of life and the role of man in it, vis--vis the qualities he possesses to impact positively on what God has placed in his care, for him to be able to return home triumphantly if he did the right things here during his earthly sojourn.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jan 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490705941

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© Copyright 2013 LANCE SPEARMAN (Lanre Ajiboye).

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-0595-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-0594-1 (e)

Trafford rev. 11/25/2013

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"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the

measure of the gift of Christ." Ephesians Ch 4 Vs 7.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Author’s Preface

Chapter One - Introduction

Chapter Two - The Original Divine Plan

Chapter Three - Man’s Innate Potentials

Chapter Four - Incidental Challenges

Chapter Five - Overcoming Obstacles

Chapter Six - Re-Orientation For The End-Time Plan

Chapter Seven - Salvation Plan Endures Forever

References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

F irst and foremost, I acknowledge the God Almighty for the gift of life, talent, and the will-power to use such talent to the best of one’s ability that enables one to impact positively on the well-being of one’s own society and the world at large.

I also acknowledge all those responsible for my training, whether the little bits or the major content of the lessons that built me to become what I am today.

Such teachers include my parents, classroom teachers, spiritual and religious leaders, political and opinion leaders, and those who by their lifestyles or sheer innocent and inadvertent mistakes have imparted on my psyche the lessons I need to avoid their errors and why they fell.

Last but not the least, I acknowledge also, all authors of books, articles and spiritual releases and expositions from which I have drawn inspirations and excerpts too numerous to mention here.

However, I am particularly obliged to be appreciative to the authors and publishers of the works as listed on the Reference Page at the back of this book.

Lanre Ajiboye.

DEDICATION

T his book is dedicated particularly to Religious Leaders and all other Inhabitants of the world who are desirous of knowing the truth and using their own individual gifts to best advantage.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

I n all honesty, I am obliged to accept that it may be a misnomer for me to claim authorship of this book. Rather, may be I should just settle for the title of a Compiler.

This is because I was only challenged to share the contents and lessons of most of the resource materials which had actually had far-reaching effects on me and subsequently imparted me with renewed understanding, vigour and approach to life.

Such contents actually got me thinking whether it was possible to achieve God’s purpose in life without some commensurate innate gifts to serve as the underlining background for success, and to overcome the challenges of his commission for man on earth.

Besides, God was said to have created man in His own image, and this same God to whom all the wealth and riches of the world belong is both Omni-potent, and Omniscient. As a liberal, and kind, God of love, could He also have allowed a man in His own image to come to face the rigour of the world empty-handed and totally un-prepared.

To solve this riddle and expose the readers to a better understanding of the controversy, this book has attempted to serialize the trends of life and the role of man in it, vis-à-vis the qualities he possesses to impact positively on what God has placed in his care, for him to be able to return home triumphantly if he did the right things here during his earthly sojourn.

The book presented in seven chapters therefore has attempted to expose man to the knowledge of his creation, background, and endowments, vis-à-vis his possible limitations and factors that are likely to constitute, what in Law is termed, Supervening Impossibility to the attainment of his earthly goals.

Lanre Ajiboye.

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

I n his first letter to Timothy, one of his spiritual sons, Paul, the Apostle wrote thus; For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out 1 st Timothy chapter 6 verse 7.

If we read this letter a little further, we would see clearly that Paul was actually counseling, not only Timothy but those who dare to read the message and care to obey, against lusts, greed and their associated crimes.

The bottom-line is that he was and is still admonishing us against materialism and love of excessive wealth which have been universally acknowledged as the root of all evils.

For the benefits of those who may not readily have access to the Bible we are going to call up excerpts from various books extravagantly to drive home the various interpretations. Let us now start with an excerpt of the essential portion of the letter referred to above for ease of reference from 1st Timothy chapter 6 verses 8-11 as follows:

"And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown man in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you, o man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness."

However, I have observed over some very long years that people have generally used the above quotation in the context for which it was not intended by trying to make us believe that everyone came into the world empty and will also go back out of the world empty.

I acknowledge that we all come in stark naked but the point of deference is that though we may be naked physically on arrival but we can not be empty in the absolute sense of the word.

Genesis chapter 3 verse 1-8 brought this issue of nakedness in to the open more directly while it brought the issue of hidden talents beneath the nakedness out indirectly.

Verses 4 to 7 quoted here-with are quite relevant to drive the points home, as follows:

"And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons".

The deductions from the above quotation include the following facts that:

a)   The serpent was the agent of change for man to move from his state of dormancy

b)   The fruit was the catalyst required to wake up the innate talents of man into active use

c)   When man woke up from his sleepy stage, he realized his unacceptable state and decided to do something about it.

d)   From his inherent qualities, he drew up from his gifts of design and manufacturing, to cover his nakedness which was his immediate needs of that time.

e)   In spite of the innate gifts of man he may choose not to use such gifts as capacity to make a choice is part of the divine gifts and inalienable rights of man.

Since freedom carries with it a commensurate measure of responsibility, man therefore is under obligation to face up to the consequences of his choices, actions or inactions inclusive.

A further scriptural text quoted from St John chapter 8 verse 32 says, thou shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Such freedom was what Adam and Eve exercised when they ate the fruit and became aware of their nakedness prior to the time God came visiting.

However, the truth of their nakedness and their reaction to it is shown as recorded in Genesis chapter 3 verses 7-10. The truth in this instance only made them ashamed of their state of existence and of having disobeyed God.

The consequence of their freedom in choosing to eat the fruit was their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

THE BLAME GAME

That passing the buck was the immediate response of man to the first and major mistake he ever made, had ever since given the attitude for blaming others, instead of accepting responsibility for one’s actions, a cultural milieu, that it has become almost impossible to break away from such norm even when owing up to our actions may not necessarily have any negative or punitive implication for us, has become quite natural is no longer in doubt.

However, in an attempt to save face, we tend to indulge in one greater or lesser crime to cover other mistakes, sometime of lesser implication.

The following excerpt titled, the blame game, in two sections helps us to see the effect of the issue of bulk-passing in detail analysis as fundamental to the introduction of the subject of this book.

THE BLAME GAME (1)

‘‘‘. . . THE WOMAN YOU PUT . . . WITH ME . . . GAVE ME . . . THE FRUIT, AND I ATE IT.’’’

GENESIS 3:12 CEV

A man smokes three packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years, dies of lung cancer, and his family sues the tobacco company. A woman crashes while driving drunk, then blames the barman. Your kids are out of control so you blame violence on TV, lack of discipline in school or the influence of their friends. Excuses we’ve got hundreds of them! Our parents failed us… our friends let us down… somebody gave us bad advice… our mate doesn’t understand us. The blame game isn’t new; we’ve been playing it since the dawn of creation. In genesis the first couple offered God every excuse in the book to avoid responsibility for their actions. Adam actually blamed God by saying, it was the woman you put… with me… And Eve was no better, she said, ‘‘‘the snake tricked me…’"

Solomon says, The wise are glad to be instructed… fools fall flat on their faces’ (Proverbs 10:8 NLT), because the ability to accept responsibility is the measure of your character and maturity. But more importantly, God can’t forgive and restore you till you acknowledge and turn away from your sin. Nowhere in scripture does he ever excuse your sin because of somebody else’s behaviour. In fact, when you make a habit of blaming the other guy you’ll never reach the place of honest repentance. The Bible says we’ll all ‘. . . appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions… (2 Corinthians 5:10 TM), Acknowledging your sins and shortcomings here and now frees you to receive God’s forgiveness and move on to maturity.

Soul food reading: Job 38-39 Luke 22:24-38Ps 6, Pr 8:32-33

THE BLAME GAME (2)

‘DON’T . . . DISCLAIM RESPONSIBILITY BY SAYING YOU DIDN’T KNOW . . .’

PROVERB 24:12 TLB

Blaming others for our shortcomings and mistakes is usually a way we avoid facing the truth about ourselves. Dr Wayne Dyer says, ‘All blame is a waste of time. Regardless of how much fault you find, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is keep the focus off you when you’re looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty but you won’t succeed in changing whatever’s making you unhappy.’

The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, making a journey that should have taken 11 days (see Deuteronomy 1:2). That’s because they blamed God, and Moses, and whatever, for all their problems; everything that happened was somebody else’s fault. Sound familiar? Solomon says, don’t try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn’t know… God… knows all hearts… And he will reward everyone according to the deeds. ‘The truth may be hard to face, but hiding from it doesn’t make it go away. In fact, until you’re willing to admit your mistakes you’ll keep having problems and fixing blame.

Remember, Satan will never stop trying to engage you in the blame game through your thoughts and emotions. And when you go there he wins and you lose! Paul said, ‘Do not let yourself be overcome by evil… overcome… evil with good’ (Romans 12:21 AMP). Did you get that? You get to decide how much ground you’ll give to’ . . . the accuser…’ (Revelation 12:10 KJV), Winston Churchill once said, ‘The price of greatness is responsibility. ‘So stop passing the buck, get honest with God and let him correct the things in your life that are out of order.

Soul food reading: Ex22-24 Luke 13:18-35Ps 136:1-12, Pr 6:30-31

A CURIOUS ANGLE

Let us now view the posture of man during his entry into, and exit from the world comparatively to see which one has a semblance of emptiness in it.

There is no arguing the fact that Jacob had an attitude of envy and rivalry towards his twin-brother Esau as recorded in Genesis chapter 25 verse 27 indicated that Esau was more gifted than Jacob who was confirmed as being ordinary.

However verses 26 and 31 showed the envy of Jacob because of Esau’s gifts and how he had a pathological jealousy and desire to corner all the good things about Esau for himself.

Let us excerpt the verses mentioned to drive home the point.

"And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright.

The most important point here to note is that even at the point of delivery of the twins, Jacob already appreciated the importance of precedence hence he had started struggling for the exalted first position during the time he ought to know nothing about such things if babies do not value the gifts and potentials they are coming to the world with.

A second scenario worthy of note is that of the posture of babies at birth.

If you have been privileged to be one of the first set of people to see new born babies immediately they are born, you will observe that babies fists are always tightly closed at if holding something valuable that must not be lost or misplaced.

On the contrary, if you have the unenviable task of having to carry dead bodies, it will look strange if you see any dead man clutching anything in his hand or tightly folding his palms as if protecting anything.

The two personalities seem to be saying two different things; the baby at birth seem to be announcing that, I hold the world while on the contrary the man on his demise seems to be saying that, I surrender all.

Also, the baby at birth comes in screaming as if to his creator that the people on this plane are going to encroach and force me to share what belongs to me with them.

Whereas, the dead one keeps mute and keep looking with his eyes without actually seeing anything until the living uses the palm of the hand to shut the eye-lids which it accepts without complaints.

Chapter Two

THE ORIGINAL DIVINE PLAN

I n attempting to start off this controversy, let us begin with the bit I remember about some scientific fundamentals. If I can quote correctly where it was said that matter can neither be created, nor destroyed. I hope I am right, otherwise, please forgive my misinformation and I accept that I am humbly open to correction on this issue as on many other issues whether scientific, religious, social or otherwise.

Having acknowledged the principle of matter not capable of being created or destroyed, let us now start from how it all began at creation of man, the world and how matter also came in to existence if it can not be created as propounded by the above scientific principle.

At this juncture, we ought to have reverted to the basic of the original divine plan but with the little just said about matter not capable of being created or destroyed, it is imperative that we conclude any discussion relating to the subject before going off to other matters to satisfy the readers’ curiosity.

The continuation towards conclusion of the discussion brings us to a particular single sentence in a pamphlet of religious commentaries titled The Word for today. The sentence is actually from the commentaries for 28th December 2006, but we are obliged to cull up the whole day’s commentary for the purpose of placing the meaning of the sentence in perspective.

Paul says, God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure; Philippians chapter 2 verse 13—we’re used to obeying out of necessity or fear. Perhaps we had parents who made us obey ‘just because I said so’. Now it’s not wrong for parents to expect obedience from their children, or bosses to expect cooperation from their employers. But it’s not the best definition or the highest motivation for obedience. THE ELEMENT THAT’S MISSING IS THE WANT TO FACTOR THAT GOD BUILT INTO EACH OF US AT THE POINT OF SALVATION". This takes the ‘ought to, ‘have to’, better do it or else God will zap you’ element out of it. It elevates obeying God to a level of joyful response to all that he’s done for you. Obedience is not something you have to manufacture. It’s something you have to cultivate, then activate, because the desire is already present in you.

This is called serving the Lord with gladness, anything else is merely outward compliance. It’s like the boy who misbehaved and was told by his mother to go and sit in the corner. After a few minutes she called to him from the other room, are you still sitting down? He replied, ‘Yes, I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside. You could call that obedience, but actually it’s nothing more than outward compliance without the inward response of eager and joyful obedience. Biblical obedience is gladly doing on the outside, what you really want to do on the inside."

To subject the above commentary to some form of analytical scrutiny the capitalized sentence and the underlined one can jointly summarize the point I am trying to drive home.

My grouse with the sentence in capitals is that first and foremost salvation could only be granted as a result of what we truly are at the point of salvation and not on the basic of what is just being planted or built into us: my own submission is that, if the scientific principle that matter can neither be created nor destroyed is true, then the want to factor could not have been built into each of us only at the point of salvation but must have existed as an inherent and fundamental part of our original existence right from creation.

Furthermore, in the underlined sentence, the commentary stated that obedience can not be manufactured but cultivated because the desire is already present in you.

Taking this sentence literally, we find that manufacture is an earthly man-made latter-day activity while cultivation has to go with the ground which has been there ever before man was created, out of the same ground, to which he has to return at death. If obedience therefore is more related to cultivation than to manufacture then it goes without saying that it is part of the attribute of man right from creation either to obey any given directive or disobey it.

Adam and Eve chose the latter. The latter part of the quoted sentence also confirms this submission by saying that the desire is already in you.

So, going back to the basics now, we start with a quotation from the book of Genesis